Citizen`s Past Life At Center Of Inquiry

December 15, 1985|By Patti Roth, Staff Writer

DANIA — Since he moved to the city in 1978, John Vollmann Jr. has enjoyed a life that seemed white-picket-fence perfect.

Married, with two children, the cigar-smoking Vollmann serves on three city boards, contributes to local candidates at election time and is vice president of a company in Maine that sponsors a T-ball team for the Dania Optimist Club.

He has donated a boat, two machine guns and a pair of binoculars with a built-in camera to the city`s Police Department.

In his 12-page resume, Vollmann says he is a member of 42 organizations. His supervisor at the Southeast Florida Institute of Criminal Justice at Miami- Dade Community College, where Vollmann is a part-time instructor, said he had received outstanding evaluations from students.

But while known for his community involvement during the past eight years, Vollmann told few people about the previous two decades of his life.

Then, a little more than a week ago, Vollmann publicly revealed the mystery of those years: He was a convicted murderer.

Vollmann said he decided to make the matter public after he learned that opponents in Dania were investigating his background. He said the investigation was being done by people who think he has influence on the City Commission`s selection of a new police chief.

An official from the National Parole Board in Canada confirmed that his office received a phone call about a month ago requesting information about Vollmann`s background.

Vollmann, 47, was 20 when he was convicted in Canada of murdering a 16-year- old New Brunswick girl, a hitchhiker he had picked up. He stabbed her nine times, according to accounts in Canadian newspapers, after she refused his advances.

After a widely publicized trial, Vollmann was sentenced to be hanged. But his life was spared five days before the scheduled execution, and his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Vollmann spent the next 18 years in Canadian prisons. While incarcerated, he earned two college degrees in sociology.

In 1976, Vollmann was paroled for good behavior and deported to the United States.

After he moved to Dania, Vollmann did the things many citizens do. He registered to vote, served on community boards, bought a gun. But because Vollmann is a convicted felon, he might have violated the law by doing those things.

The revelation about Vollmann`s past has prompted an investigation by the Broward State Attorney`s Office and caused one Dania city official to ask that Vollmann`s board activities be reviewed. And Vollmann`s case has raised legal questions that may challenge the state constitution.

But Vollmann contends that because his offense occurred outside the United States, he never lost his civil rights and therefore is allowed to buy guns, register to vote and serve on city boards.

However, the state Attorney General`s Office in Tallahassee disagreed, and said a convicted felon would have to have his civil rights restored by the state, even if the felony occurred outside the country.